WILD WEDNESDAYS!

I know I have an Elementary Blog.... but just admit it... It's more fun to look at pictures then it is to read a lot... right? right? I can't hear you... right? Plus, a picture is worth a thousand words... so my blog is worth A TON!

Here are some pictures from today.

Today the Salvadors joined our family. Well, the Salvador kids :-) We gave momma Patti a day at home alone. The Salvadors have been such a sweet gift to our family. Tori is 15 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TORI... her birthday was Monday), CJ is in 6th grade and Maddie is in 3rd grade. They baby sit for us every Tuesday night during our Life Group and they are GREAT with our kids. THANK YOU SALVADORS!

Here the girls are doing crafts... CJ and Aidan aren't into the crafts.

We go to the park every Wednesday and these are my crazy friends that keep me laughing. Pictured here is me talking to Shawna (the one I am standing right in front of) on my cell phone but for some reason.... I couldn't hear her. Check out her cell phone... maybe that's why.

Are you guys dressed for the same kind of weather?

T taught this past Sunday at church... click here if you'd like to hear his message :-) Anywho.... he mentioned that his favorite cake was yellow cake with chocolate icing. So the STU is meeting here tonight and Heather brought him a yellow cake with chocolate icing. HOW SWEET!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's an A-team tradition to put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving. We normally put it in our basement because we don't really have room to put it in our living area upstairs (there is NO WAY to do it). It's a "cozy" home. This year... we decided to put the tree IN OUR KITCHEN! We have a little eat in kitchen but we put it in the corner. I LOVE IT! We spent much more time upstairs so we'll get to enjoy it so much more.



Here's the finished product




Our rearranged kitchen area.





This is one way to stuff your stockings :-)

Our kids this year in front of the tree


Our kids in front of the tree last year (in the basement) 2006



2005 in front of the tree :-)

I got the biggest kick out of seeing how much they have grown. I wish I could find 2004's picture as well but I don't think I took one that year. BUMMER!






New tradition... watch a Christmas movie the night we put up the tree. And have a fire in the fire place.

Thanksgiving Day

We spent our Thanksgiving with the Wrights this year. Debbye and Blair have a beautiful home! Their son, Ben and daughter Natalie were both there. Natalie had a few friends there as well. Granny and PapPaw were there too (aka Buddy and Charlotte). The Stevens just moved to town on Tuesday and joined us as well. We knew Clark and Elizabeth when we went to Irving Bible Church in the DFW area in Texas. They moved here to be a part of Fellowship Bible Church Knoxville. They have been trying to get here for about 4 years now. Caroline Willson also was there. She made the best asparagus dish I've ever had! LOVED IT. All of the food was excellent! After dinner, we hung out and played Balderdash. Ted won.... but I think I had the funniest definitions. Maybe they didn't pick my definitions but they sure did laugh!



I'm so thankful for all of my children. This one shares my same personality. Both the good side and the bad... watch out world!


Ted and Aidan getting ready to leave for the Wrights.






Caroline and Ted talking. Ted was probably laughing at her :-) She was cracking us up!




Clark and Elizabeth visiting with Blair.






The Ancelet kids and the Stevens kids. (Dark hair = Ancelet ... Light hair = Stevens)






Don't ask... haha.




Addie taking a ride on the lamb.



Heading home... I just loved Addie's face in this picture... haha.

A BIG SHOUT OUT

I just want to tell my husband I am so proud of him. In the midst of life he is in seminary and just got another grade. His first grade was a 97 and his second grade was a 97 and this grade was a 96.....

YOU GO BOY!

I am so proud of him. YEAH T!!!

Today and everyday I am thankful for you. Happy Thanksgiving :-)

I LOVE THE FALL!

The kids were out raking leaves and I couldn't resist to take some pictures. The leaves are beautiful right now and they are falling so it won't be long and the trees will be naked :-)

I can't believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving ... already! I was driving a friend home the other day and someone had their Christmas decorations up. WHAT? Seems too early.

Leave me a message (comment) and tell me what you are thankful for :-) or just tell me what you are doing for Thanksgiving. COME ON ALL YOU NON COMMENTERS... JUST DO IT! You can click anonymous and then you don't have to sign in with blogger... but just type your name after your message so I'll know it was you.

I feel SO STUPID

So, I was doing my normal "blog cruzin" when I happened upon the RUDY blog. She had a "The blog readability test" on her blog. It's where you go to this website and they tell you the readability of your blog. HERS was GENIUS. According to them you had to be a genius to read her blog. So I thought... this is fun... Let me check mine. YES, this is what I got....









So I checked our adoption blog and got the same thing.... ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.



So I decided to check my husband's blog and this is what I got...



Resie ... if you are reading this I bet you are saying "AMEN!" haha.




So I thought I would add a bunch of smart words to my blog to see if raises my score.... So here are my smart words... (where did I get these words? you ask? I just googled smart words :-) It actually said these words were to impress native speakers of English. Are you impressed?


affable affinity affliction affluent alacrity alleviate ambiguous ambivalent amiable animosity annex apocryphal apprehensive aqueous arduous aroma atone attrition avarice bellicose belligerent beneficiary brazen brusque capricious charisma chastise cognitive coherent complicity comprehensive concoct condone congenial congenital consensus contiguous convivial cryptic culpable curtail dangle dearth deference delineate derogatory diligent disparage docile doleful dormant drought dubious dumbfound duplicity eccentric efface egocentric elucidate eminent enchant endeavor enigma enthral esoteric exacerbate extol extraneous
felicity fidelity flagrant flimsy frugal futile
gaudy ghastly gluttony gratuitous gregarious grumble
haughty heterogeneous homogeneous hypocrisy
imminent impediment indigenous indulgent ingenuous inherent insatiate instigate intrepid irate
jeopardy
laconic lament latent lithe lurid leash loafer lucrative lustrous
malign meddle mend mendacious minuscule mirth munificent
nausea neglect nihilism nocturnal nominal notorious noxious nuance
oblique obscure officious opaque
parsimonious pejorative perch pervade petulant philanthropy philistine pillage plethora ponderous postulate precipitous precursor presumptuous prevail prodigious prodigy proliferate prolific proprietary provident proximity prudent
quashed quenching
rancor reciprocal reclusive renaissance replenish reproach reticent reverberate revere rigor rotundity rudimentary
salvage scattered scrupulous sentient serendipity shatter shunned sketchy sporadic squander stagnation stifled strive subjugate sublime succumb superfluous surreptitious
taciturn taciturn tangible tantalize tenacious tentative torpid treacherous tremor tyro uproar
vanity vehemence venerate verisimilitude vestige vigilance vilify vindicate visionary vitriolic volatile voluptuous
wan wile wrinkle

PARTY DAY!

Today was our son's party day! We had a party for A2 out at Walker Springs Park. We had a tresure hunt theme party. It was SO FUN. It was VERY COLD... but we had some hot chocolate and were bundled up and managed to have a blast even though it was chilly.

A2's cake... compliments of Granny Charlotte and PapPaw Buddy Cruze. It was SO good. We had just enough cake. There was one piece left when it was all said and done :-) Thanks Buddy and Charlotte!

Mack was swinging A2... look how high he's going.

T did a treasure hunt for the kids... he did such a good job. He went out and walked the park and then came home and made a map for the kids. He went all out. The kids had a great time looking for treasures! There were 5 treasures in all for their goodie bags.

First stop on the tresure hunt.

First prize... Bouncy Balls and Tatoos or that might be the tops.. not sure.

Playdough!

Party Guests! It was suppose to be an all boy party but we allowed some girls to crash it (our girls and the Randall girls) Here's who came: Hunter, Tucker, & Conner Swoboda, Braden Beebe, Bruce Randall (and his sisters... Tori, Audrey & Molly), Grant Crenshaw, Owen Gunter, Owen Prince, and Drew Sloan.

Adults: Me and T, Mack and Cindy Card, Stephen and Emile Sloan, Lauren Prince, Todd and Jocelyn Gunter, Becky Crenshaw, Brandon Swoboda, Bruce and Christy Smith.

Mack and Cindy Card with A2

We Love You A2

OUR BOY IS 5!

A2 turned 5 on Nov 7th. I can not believe it! Ted and I both are so proud of him. Here are 5 things (we could name many more) that characterize our boy!

1. Great brother to both of his sisters. He fights for both of their hearts. He is a great leader to little sis, A3. He's such a precious brother!!

2. He is eager to learn! He is ready to start school... I am not ready for him to :-( (he's growing up too fast) Every day when I do school with A1, he sits and is ready for his turn.

3. He can't wait to have a baby brother. He makes Abel's bed every day. He is so ready for Abel to be here. They are going to eventually share a room. He is gonna be a ROCKIN' big brother!

4. He is a DANCER. The kids is always shakin' his booty. Seriously! He loves to dance!

5. He is ALL BOY (even though he's dancing all the time). There isn't a super hero he's not crazy about. He's into them all.

On his actual birthday we had Charlotte and her boyfriend, Critter over (real name: Chris). We had a yummy dinner and then ate some pie to celebrate his birthday.

Women's Retreat (cont)

Here is a picture that I just found on my friend Robin's blog. Such a sweet group of women!! You can click on the picture to see it larger!

5 Years Ago Today...

My sweet Mom went to be with the Lord. She was just 58 when she passed away. It was November 5, 2002. I miss her so much. She was such a huge part of my life. Here are a few pictures in memory of her. I have put some of the oldest pictures I could find to the more recent ones....

My mom was a BEAUTIFUL woman... both inside and out. She laughed a lot! I remember in her year book from high school it said, "Her every word begins a laugh". SO TRUE. She and I were the best of friends. She loved to shop and she loved to give gifts. She was all about fashion and to a fault bought me WAY TOO MUCH clothes. (I loved it though). My mom was all about movies. She could quote who won what academy award for what movie. She was on top of her entertainment news. I could always make her laugh by quoting her favorite lines from Forrest Gump. She was an extrovert but she enjoyed time alone. She worked for the City of Port Arthur for 20-something years. Her and my dad were married for 32 years. They adopted my brother when she was 29 and they had me when she was 31.

Honestly, one of the things that grieves me most is that the years she was on this earth, I was all about "me" and didn't take time to ask her every question I wish I could now ask. If I could sit with her today, I would ask her every question under the sun. My mom was all about me when she was on this earth. We spent HOURS talking. She could calm my heart, heal my hurts, and make me laugh ... but most of all I could make her laugh and I think she was my number one fan.

Born on December 14, 1943, my mom (Mary Kay) was born to Josephine and Frank Drago. She was the baby of the family (she had two older brothers) and if I remember correctly, my grandmother was about 39 or 40 when she had my mom. My mom grew up in Port Arthur, Texas (where I too grew up). She was a full blooded Italian woman who was educated in Catholic school all her life. My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's when she was 54. My dad passed away when my mom was 57 and right after he passed away, she was diagnosed with cancer. She had small cell carcinoma (lungs). We went through 9 months of treatment and 9 months of remission. All the while, she was fading because of Alzheimers. We were losing her in every way. She looked different, she acted different, she was a completely different person. In October of 2002, the cancer moved to her brain and in November, my precious mom, my best friend, my number one fan (tied now with Ted and my kids) left this earth. She died 18 months to the day after my dad. Two days after she died, our son Aidan was born. A gift of joy in the midst of our sorrow.

I had no idea how much more I would grieve over the years to come after her death. There are so many things I long for from her. Most of all, just to know her. To see her with my kids. To ask her what I was like at this age or that age. To hear her voice. To touch her skin. To go to the mall with her :-) I honestly could go on and on but it's in my heart and I trust the Lord to heal my heart... one stitch at a time.

I rejoice because my mom knew Jesus before her death. She is now with Him. No more pain, no more suffering. And joined once again with my dad. She is praising HIM before the throne crying "Holy Holy Holy is the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY... who was and is and is to come!"
I do long for the day that I will say those words with her... but for now... to live is Christ! and for her to die was gain... for she is with her maker, her savior... with her mind in tact and her body healed. TO GOD BE THE GLORY. This life we live is but a breath compared to Eternity... MAY I LIVE WITH MY EYES OFF OF THE TEMPORAL... because it is truly fading away!


My mom at our wedding. Jan 6, 1996



Riding the go-cart with my brother. My guess is that this is in the late 80's.


My mom standing at the kitchen sink. I lived in the same house from the day I was born until the day I married.





My parents... Mom is sporting the highlights! She often was told she looked like Liza Monellie (not sure if I spelled that right)


My mom played the bugel. Which is so funny to me. She was voted Colleen of the year and this picture appeared in her year book.




My mom when she was younger





I love these old pictures of her. I was told ALL THE TIME when I was young how much I looked like her.
What a precious precious lady. I love her so very much!
Fun Facts about Mary Kay:
1. She called Wal-Mart... Wal-Marts
2. She called Tylenol... Telenol
3. She watched the Young and the Restless for YEARS! My cousin Dana and I would watch her as she watched the show because she would make the BEST expressions!
4. Her and I laughed so hard one time during Mass that my dad got mad and walked out... we were still in Mass laughing... not good. I am sure the priest was not happy with us.
5. While my mom was sick she watched the Best of Johnny Carson A TON OF TIMES. I loved to hear her laugh so I would put it on just to hear her giggle.
6. She loved to shop... LOVED TO SHOP. I think we did a lot of retail therapy in life.
7. She loved to decorate the house.
8. She always gave things to me... for example... I would ask to borrow her lipstick and she would say "do you like it? you can have it" SO GIVING!
9. She loved to drink Sprite
10. She loved BBQ Crab (I do too but I haven't had it since my last trip to Sartins with my mom after my dad's death). It was my 25th birthday. May 2001.
11. She had the best fingernails.
I will add more as I think of them and have time... This has been such a precious exercise for me and thank you to all that commented about her. What a gift to me and my children!